For some people, eating S’mores is a sensual epicurean experience. And, it is this appetite for the snack that makes one of its vital components, developed in New Jersey, such a dichotomy.

Presbyterian minister Sylvester Graham invented his cracker in Bound Brook in 1829. The borough’s own website refers to him as “eccentric,” and they’re being kind. When not busy with his ministerial duties, Graham was what could be called a “health reformer.” According to boundbrook-nj.org, Graham “preached a strict vegetarian diet, recommended hard mattresses, open bedroom windows, chastity, cold showers, loose clothing and vigorous exercise.”

Sylvester Graham, 1794-1851 courtesy of boundbrook-nj.org

Mentions of s'mores have been found as far back as a 1927 Girl Scout pamphlet. Courtesy of foodmuseum.com

He prescribed, instead, a diet of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole wheat and high fiber foods. Not a bad idea, but he particularly pushed his own invention. The Graham cracker was, as Shaw pointed out, “so bland and tasteless that it earned him the nickname ‘Dr. Sawdust.’” The author goes on to note that Graham’s . . . “movement” . . . gained a following across the country for a time “but lost popularity when devotees became too weak to stand up, and the remainder lost faith when their mentor dropped dead at the age of 57.”

Thankfully for lovers of chocolate and marshmallow sandwiched between the minister’s namesake invention, today’s Graham crackers are marketed as treats and are usually sweetened with sugar or honey. Graham crackers can still be nutritious; health food stores sell versions that are made with whole wheat flour, soy oil, unsulfured molasses, and no preservatives. Yet without Rev. Graham’s single-handed commitment to taking on the perils of self-abuse, the foundation of a sinful pleasure like S’mores might never have come about.

So, do you eat Graham crackers plain? Or, do you layer them with sweet stuff such as jelly or chocolate and marshmallows?